This invention relates to improvements in a photograph processing device.
In recent years, a new type of film 20 (FIG. 16) has been proposed which premises that the film is always used while being connected to a spool axis C1 of a cartridge 1 except at the time of a development process. To position this type of film 20 in an automatic negative mask section of a photograph processing device to print the film, a negative mask section 60 including a cartridge setting unit 61 with a thrust mechanism, as shown in FIG. 15, becomes necessary. However, it may be more efficient in some cases for flow of processing operations in photograph shops or equivalent to use a film 20A stripped from but not yet connected to the cartridge (hereinafter referred to as a strip film) in the film printing process following completion of film development. However, such use involves a problem that when the strip film 20A is fed into the negative mask section 60 as shown in FIG. 15, the thrust mechanism hinders the strip film 20A from entering a film slot 62 at the negative mask section 60, and the film can be scratched.
To avoid such problem, a negative mask section 70, which is designed solely for the strip film with the cartridge setting unit 61 omitted, as shown in FIG. 16, becomes necessary. This causes the problem of a burden of spending for new equipment on photograph shops. Further, it may be attempted to use the negative mask section 70 designed solely for the strip film for the processing of the film 20 contained in the cartridge 1. However, this type of negative mask section 70 is not provided with a thrust mechanism, so that it cannot feed the film 20 into a film slot 71. If only a front end of the film 20 is pulled out by hand from the cartridge 1 to be fed into the film slot 71, since a rear end of the film 20 is connected to the spool axis C1 of the cartridge 1, resistance to movement of the film 20 will increase the risk of damage to the film 20.
The following additional problems exist.
Currently marketed film is such that after being removed from a cartridge during a film development process and singly printed, the film is maintained in custody in a special bag. A new type of film proposed recently can be re-contained in and maintained in custody in an original cartridge after completion of a development process. Where the new type of film is printed via the automatic negative mask section, the film can be removed from the cartridge to be singly printed in the same way as the known type of film. However, this requires a troublesome operation of removing the film from the cartridge. Thus, efficiency is poor. Also, at the time of the removal of the film from the cartridge, the film is touched by hand and thereby is smudged. Further, where the film is printed while remaining connected to the cartridge, the cartridge must be set at a correct position to a negative guide slot at the negative mask section. Otherwise, the film will be damaged by deviation of the cartridge from the slot. if the width of the cartridge setting unit is equal to the width of the cartridge in order to precisely set the cartridge in the cartridge guide slot, efficiency of the operation of setting the cartridge is worsened.
Further, there are still other problems as follows.
In recent years, a new system for the film to be treated in the cartridge has been proposed. The cartridge of this system, in which some indication windows are formed on a side wall of the cartridge and an indication plate is installed at the inside of the side wall, has the function of indicating a status of film packed in the cartridge (unexposed, exposed, developed, etc.), which status can be visually checked by the indication plate being aligned with a particular turned over the indication window. In the photograph processing device for handling this type of cartridge, after the film is pulled from the cartridge and is processed, it must be rewound into the original cartridge. If the indicative function is not controlled accurately according to a state of film in the cartridge so that a correct state of the film is indicated, various types of problems will arise.
For example, if after a cartridge with all frames of the film already exposed but not yet developed is processed by a developing device, and the indicator is not controlled so that the state of film can be changed from "Not-yet-developed" to "Already-developed", there is a risk that the film may be developed again by mistake. On the other hand, if the indicative function is erroneously controlled so that all frames are indicated as being in the state of "Not-yet-exposed", there is a risk that the cartridge may be mistaken for an unused one and be inserted in a camera to result in failure of taking valuable photos.
The purpose of the invention is to solve these problems. An object of the invention thus is to provide a photograph processing device which enables a strip film to fed into a film slot without being hindered by a cartridge setting unit.
Another object of the invention is to provide a photograph processing device which can facilitate not only placement and removal of a cartridge in and from a fixed location but also a film printing process, whereby only a simple positioning of the cartridge is necessary and the need to pull the film manually from the cartridge is eliminated, thereby to provide improved workability and also to avoid a possible risk of the film being scratched.
A further object of the invention is to provide a photograph processing device which enables an indicative function to be precisely selected to eliminate the above possible risks.